Indian captain Virat Kohli has welcomed the introduction of day-night Test cricket, saying he hoped the experiment would work and make the traditional five-day game more popular.
“It is a landmark Test,” Kohli said as Australia and New Zealand prepared to play the inaugural day-night Test at the Adelaide Oval from Friday.
“It is a big step towards changing something in Test cricket,” the Indian skipper added.
“I hope it works. I hope it can be another option as well.”
– TEST: First-ever day-night Test match in Adelaide
– UAE: Major milestone for UAE cricket
– Follow: Live cricket scores from around the world
Kohli said Australia and New Zealand should be saluted for taking part in the Test. He was hopeful other teams would accept the change if it was offered to them.
“Hopefully it will be better for the game. It might be a step that we will all remember a few years down the line,” he said. “If it is officially put into place, it will be something different, something exciting.
“As cricketers we all should be willing and accepting of the fact that we need to step forward and contribute to the game however possible.
“If this is a step towards improving the excitement and the popularity of Test cricket, then I think every team should be in for it.”
Kohli said the only negative aspect, as pointed out by some players, was the difficulty in spotting the pink ball as the sun sets.
“I’ve heard a few players giving feedback on playing with the pink ball,” he said.
“The only thing they were concerned about was it was very hard to pick the ball in twilight.
Virat Kohli: Credit to Australia and NZ for agreeing to play the day-night Test. If the experiment works, it will be a landmark game.
— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) November 24, 2015
“During the day it was fine, during night it was okay as well. But when the floodlights are not on and when the sun is going down, is when they found it difficult.”
Day-night matches at international level have been limited so far only to one-day and Twenty20 games, which are played with a white ball.
Tickets for the day-night Test match are selling briskly, with Cricket Australia comparing the int-erest to a high-demand Ashes series against England.
